Conventional power generation can rely on or otherwise leverage shape memory alloys. While thermal and Carnot efficiencies of a heat engine that utilizes shape memory alloys can be much lower than those of traditional power plants, such a heat engine can operate over a relatively small temperature range, thus utilizing low-grade heat for the generation of high-grade power. As such, effective reliance on heat that would be conventionally understood as heat refuse can render heat engines based on shape memory alloys desirable despite cost of materials and low efficiencies. More specifically, nitinol is one of several alloys that are known as either shape memory alloys (SMA) or thermoelastic materials, and has been leverage in conventional heat engines. Yet, some of the conventional heat engines that leverage nitinol may require that power be consumed in order to generate energy. Some other ones of the conventional heat engines may require that the generated power is to be used upon generation. Still some other ones of the conventional heat engines that leverage SMAs can convert low grade heat into mechanical energy utilizing multiple shape memory springs. Further, some other conventional heat engines have leveraged the fact that nitinol exhibits efficient phase-transition pathways under uniaxial tension and, thus, have included a single nitinol element held in tension. Despite the availability of such conventional heat engines, much remains to be developed in the field of heat engines based on shape memory alloys.